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Dynamic Sensor Placement#

This tool allows you to dynamically place sensors on a car using positions and rotations specified in a URDF file.

Follow the steps to generate the urdf file:#

  1. Build Autoware by following the instruction in https://autowarefoundation.github.io/autoware-documentation/main/installation/autoware/source-installation/.

  2. Modify L3-4 in $HOME/autoware/src/universe/autoware.universe/launch/tier4_vehicle_launch/urdf/vehicle.xacro as the following,

        <xacro:arg name="vehicle_model" default="sample_vehicle"/>
    <xacro:arg name="sensor_model" default="awsim_sensor_kit"/>

  3. Run the following commands:

    source $HOME/autoware/install/setup.bash

ros2 run xacro xacro -o awsim_vehicle.urdf $HOME/autoware/src/universe/autoware.universe/launch/tier4_vehicle_launch/urdf/vehicle.xacro

  4. You should now have a URDF file named awsim_vehicle.urdf.

Using the Dynamic Sensor Placement tool:#

  1. Open up AWSIM and place the generated awsim_vehicle.urdf in the Externals folder so the path will be ./Assets/AWSIM/Externals/awsim_vehicle.urdf.

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  2. Now, under open up the Dynamic sensor placement tool under AWSIM menu.

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  3. Enter the path to the URDF file

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  4. Click "Place sensors". All the sensors should be automatically placed on the car.

Note#

  1. Only the game object named sensor_kit_base_link and its direct children will be assigned transforms if they are mentioned in the URDF file as children of sensor_kit_base_link. You will need to manually place the base_link game object.

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  2. Ensure the names of the game objects are exactly the same as those mentioned in the URDF file. Look for the name of the child of sensor_kit_base_link in the URDF file under the <joint> tag.

    For example:

    <joint name="velodyne_top_base_mount_joint" type="fixed">
    <origin rpy="0.0 0.0 1.575" xyz="0.0 0.0 0.0"/>
    <parent link="sensor_kit_base_link"/>
    <child link="velodyne_top_base_link"/>
</joint>

  3. Finally, ensure that all the direct children of the sensor game objects have their rotations and positions set to zero.

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